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3/6/2006

Alysse Stepanian / Philip Mantione

Imagine Gallery, Beijing

A BOX 1035 installation with water sculpture, video and sound

June 4 to June 28, 2006

In this installation, BOX 1035 uses the colors of the terrorist alert system adopted by the US government after 911, as a reference to hyper-vigilism, induced paranoia and an Orwellian attitude that has threatened to permanently undermine American civil rights, while paradoxically claiming to protect them. The "Color-coded Threat Level System" ensures that at no time is it possible to live without some level of fear.

HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISORY SYSTEM

Color-coded Threat Level System
RED ALERT: severe risk of terrorist attacks
ORANGE ALERT: high risk of terrorist attacks
YELLOW ALERT: elevated risk of terrorist attacks
BLUE ALERT: guarded general risk of terrorist attacks
GREEN ALERT: low risk of terrorist attacks
The politics of doom depend on the existence of evil, which is defined as the opposite of good. Where the concept of the yin and yang strives for a balance, alertism maintains a state of permanent conflict between right and wrong, friend or foe, us or them. The perceived need to be protected from an invisible enemy negates the power of constructive thought, and drives the self-fulfilling prophecy that validates the system.

Water is used in a sculpture made of cooking pots, emblems of one of the most basic human inventions. The use of water as a symbol of purity and truth in recycled systems refer to artificially defined reality that feeds on itself. In other sculptures, repetitive conical shapes resemble megaphones, referencing the voices of the megalomaniacs who attempt to reshape and redefine human perception. Artificial fur is used as a reference to manufactured truth.

An English-subtitled video depicts a Chinese man making statements in front of a red background, which to foreign viewers might be construed as communist propaganda. Ironically, the text used is translated almost verbatim from the US Department of Homeland Security website. Also included are quotes from Howard Zinn's book, Terrorism and War and text based on a quote by former Attorney General, John Ashcroft in which he uses language from the constitutional definition of treason to attack dissenting opinion. On another screen, a surveillance camera addresses the current debate over civil rights.

BOX 1035 emerged from the gradual melding of our ideas as individual artists. In combining the perspectives of the visual arts and music we have created work that is multisensorial, static and temporal, ephemeral and timeless. Joseph Campbell wrote, "Beyond the world of opposites is an unseen unity and identity in us all." Our work is multilayered with social, political, philosophical and psychological references. Desire, obsession, fear and anxiety have been recurring subjects.

In 2005 we abandoned the idea of having a home to pursue international projects. Our Post Office Box 1035 became a symbol for non-permanence, a nomadic existence motivated not by the needs of survival, but by an interest in experience and movement. Risk and uncertainty are perversely attractive, and in a sense this is life imitating art. As John Cage said, "Art is an opportunity for self-alteration, not self-expression."

L.P. Streitfeld, art critic and writer for the New York Times and The Advocate & Greenwich Times, has described BOX 1035's recent work, "Utility of Obsession: All Things Orange," as "...a wry and profound commentary on the conflicted state of America's emotions."

Alysse Stepanian and Philip Mantione have been collaborating on videos, installations, multimedia performances and music for several years. "Don't be afraid, be ready" was created during their three-month residency at Imagine Gallery. Recently, they were invited to create a new installation at the Islip Museum of Art in New York.

In October, they will begin a one-year residency at Kunsthaus Tacheles in Berlin. BOX 1035 collaborations have been presented at venues such as the Podewil in Berlin; cine'ma l'Arlequin in Paris; wigged.net; Fig Gallery, Sherry Frumkin Gallery and Jan Baum Gallery in Los Angeles; VOID, Art in General, and Dixon Place in New York City; Leeds International Film Festival in the UK; HAY-Art Cultural Center and Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art in Yerevan, Armenia.

Opening hours: Daily 10-6 pm
Imagine Gallery
Feijiancun Donglu Laiguangying - Beijing Cina

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